News on Pain Management in Orange Park, FL

Contact us with any questions you have about current or past blog posts from our pain management clinic in North Florida, Orange Park, and St. Augustine, FL. We want to keep our patients better informed about treatments available to them.

doctor pointing at vertebrae

What You Should Know About Kyphoplasty

There are many medical practitioners and clinics that recommend kyphoplasty in Jacksonville, FL, to treat vertebral compression fractures. Kyphoplasty is a minimally invasive spine surgery that helps correct bone deformity and relieves the pain that accompanies spinal compression fractures.

During the Procedure

During a kyphoplasty, a tube is inserted into the damaged vertebrae through a cut in the back. Next, a thin catheter tube, tipped with a balloon, is guided into the vertebra. The balloon is inflated to create a cavity into which bone cement will be injected. The balloon is then deflated and removed, and the bone cement is injected into the cavity. It then takes only about ten minutes for the cement mixture to harden.

As one of many available options for back pain treatment, kyphoplasty has proven to offer patients a significant and sustained reduction in back pain. Its primary benefits include: a short surgical time (usually about a half-hour per spinal level), it is often performed with local anesthesia, short recovery times (with many patients able to walk and return to their normal activities and discharged on the same day).

Contact your doctor or a spinal and pain management clinic to discuss if kyphoplasty is right for you.

patient explaining symptoms to doctor

What are the Symptoms of Nerve Pain?

There are many different types of pain we can experience, from the mild to the severe, from the acute to the chronic. They all come in different ways and have different effects on each of us, but they often can be narrowed down to their source.

We’ll look at nerve pain in this blog post, written by our staff at Florida Coast Pain, and describe some of the symptoms so you can be aware if you’re dealing with nerve pain issues. As a pain management clinic in Jacksonville, FL, we’ve seen just about every type you can imagine and are well versed in identifying different types and providing treatments.

One of the first things you should determine when considering if you have nerve pain is the location of the pain. Does it occur randomly, in one specific spot, or spread along a certain path? If your pain follows a path, that’s a good indication that it’s stemming from a nerve.

Another major factor to take into account is the type of pain. Nerve pain is generally sharp or stabbing. Some people may also experience tingling or burning.

There are other additional symptoms that we can address at our pain management clinic in Jacksonville, FL, such as:

  • Muscle Weakness
  • Loss of Feeling
  • Partial or Complete Paralysis
  • Changing Skin Texture

 

doctor with a patient

Personalized Treatment for Chronic Pain

Pain is common across all spectrums of people. Individuals of all ages, body types, and genders have to deal with it at one point or another. Despite the fact it is common, that doesn’t mean blanket solutions are going to work for everyone. In many cases, a cookie-cutter approach won’t cut it for the patient.

The best professional clinics for pain management in Jacksonville, FL, like ours at Florida Coast Pain, offer personalized treatments for chronic pain. They feature skilled, compassionate, and experienced staff members who work with you to create a solution that helps find the relief you seek.

At our clinic, for example, healthcare professionals take the time to identify the cause of your pain and work with you to create a multi-level approach to treatment. We provide pain management in Jacksonville, FL, that uses both traditional and alternative methods because we know different people respond to different treatments, and it’s all a part of our personalized approach.

When a treatment is designed for you, the best thing you can do is stick with it because results generally take a bit of time to make themselves known. Following up with your healthcare team will allow you to adjust your program as necessary.

senior couple taking a walk in a field

Tips for Natural Arthritis Relief

Arthritis is a natural condition that can strike anyone at any time, but not all treatment options are natural. There are many medications and manufactured remedies on the market.

The team at Florida Coast Pain has written this blog post to give you some information and insight on the various natural forms of arthritis treatment in Jacksonville, FL. Natural solutions are readily available and generally side-effect free.

One of the foremost suggestions that any health care professional is going to make regarding a way to combat arthritis is to lose weight. If you’re carrying some extra pounds, that is going to put more stress and strain on your joints and could aggravate your condition.

Get active. You don’t have to go out and run a marathon, but exercise is a great way to build strength and flexibility. So, think stretches and low-impact exercises that are easy on your joints.

Hot and cold therapy is also an effective natural arthritis treatment in Jacksonville, FL. Hot showers and warm baths are a good way to shake off stiffness in the morning, and ice packs work to relieve pain, swelling, and inflammation.

Meditation helps to reduce stress, and it has been found useful for coping with pain. Depression can be linked to chronic pain, and a relaxed and positive mental state goes a long way toward helping.

migraine

What Is a Hemiplegic Migraine?

While not as common as other types of migraines, hemiplegic migraines aren’t any less of a challenge to live with. These rare headaches cause the same intense nausea, throbbing pain, and sensitivity that are commonly associated with migraines while also causing temporary numbness, tingling, weakness, and paralysis on one side of the body. These hemiplegic migraines can actually end up causing symptoms similar to those of a stroke.

If you are suffering from these types of headaches, you might be wondering about hemiplegic migraine treatment in Jacksonville, FL. It turns out that many of the same drugs used to treat regular migraines can also work for hemiplegic migraines. There are a few different medications that can prevent these headaches from starting, including high blood pressure medications and anti-seizure drugs.

One form of treatment that is used for regular migraines but should not be used for hemiplegic migraines are triptans. These drugs can actually cause the symptoms of a hemiplegic migraine to become worse or cause permanent damage.

No matter what type of migraine headache you suffer from, it is important to visit a doctor to learn more about it so you can be properly diagnosed. As mentioned above, taking the wrong type of medication can end up causing serious problems, even if it seems like the most obvious solution. Working with your doctor helps you to avoid these dangerous mistakes.

doctor checking patient’s neck

When to See a Doctor for Neck Pain

While neck pain might be a fairly common complaint, that doesn’t mean the discomfort it causes is any less frustrating. In most situations, this pain is caused due to strain caused by poor posture. In other, rarer, instances it can be due to a more serious problem that requires a visit to the doctor’s office.

No matter what, when you’re dealing with this discomfort, you are going to want pain management in Jacksonville, FL, so you can get back to feeling like yourself again. While most neck pain will improve gradually with home treatment, you might need to see a doctor if things aren’t progressing quite as quickly as they should. This is also true if the pain was caused due to an injury—including a diving accident, fall, or motor vehicle accident.

Still not sure if your neck problems are worth making a doctor’s appointment? To help you out, here are some of the warning signs that you should go and see a doctor for your pain:

  • It Is Severe
  • It Persists for Several Days without Relief
  • It Spreads Down Your Legs or Arms
  • It Is Accompanied by Numbness, Weakness, Tingling, or Headache

If you have chronic neck pain, reach of to the physicians at First Coast Pain today.

woman with a migraine rubbing her temples

Retinal Migraine Treatment

You may notice your vision is impaired. Perhaps, you have partial or total loss of vision or a blind spot. This is accompanied, usually later, by a severe headache — a migraine. The medical term for this unusual form of migraine is a retinal migraine. This type of migraine headache causes pain and changes in vision. When it occurs in both eyes, the term is migraine with aura.

With eye problems of any sort, it is best to see a doctor quickly to find out what the problem is and get treatment. For migraine treatment in Jacksonville, FL, there are non-surgical remedies your doctor may recommend. Two of the most common include BOTOX and medical marijuana.

BOTOX — When you think of BOTOX, you think of getting rid of wrinkles. However, this treatment also is effective in treating migraine headaches. The ingredient in BOTOX that works so well on fine lines — onabotulinumtoxinA — also provides relief from severe discomfort by preventing pain signals from reaching the brain.

Medical Marijuana — Those suffering from chronic migraines can find a friend in medical cannabis. In fact, it’s a much better option than many prescription medications. It has been proven that medical marijuana provides a safe option for pain relief caused by migraines and other medical conditions.

We urge you to see a doctor when you’re experiencing retinal headaches. Perhaps, BOTOX or medical marijuana can alleviate your suffering.

senior man speaking with pain management doctor

Osteoarthritis Pain Management

Pain is a sign that something is not right with your body. So, when you’re suffering significant discomfort from joint pain — pain that has been bothering you for more than a couple of days — and over-the-counter pain medication doesn’t work, it’s time to seek professional help. At a clinic for pain management in Jacksonville, FL, you can find help for your suffering.

Pain is not something to disregard, thinking it’s just part of the natural aging process. Instead, that moderate-to-high-level discomfort is a red flag that tells you to seek medical help.

What Can You Do about Pain?

There are a great many things you can do for pain — everything from stretching and gentle exercise to medication and medical treatment. Here are four medical treatments that relieve pain from osteoarthritis:

Guided Steroid Injections — Steroids decrease inflammation, while the anesthetic stops the message about pain from getting to the brain.

Hyaluronic Acid Joint Lubrication — Your joints already contain hyaluronic acid. By injecting more into your joints, the additional lubrication relieves suffering.

Peripheral Nerve Radiofrequency Ablations — An electric current is sent to the nerves that relay pain signals. This current heats and destroys the nerves that carry these signals to the brain.

Stem Cell/Regenerative Medicine Therapies — This therapy consists of stem cells injected into the body to repair joints and eliminate or diminish pain.

3D illustration of shoulder pain

Common Causes of Chronic Shoulder Pain

Chronic shoulder pain is a condition that develops from repeated, long-term overuse of the shoulders and neck area. There are a variety of causes. Since each individual is unique, the circumstances of developing chronic pain are many and wide-ranging. Our center for pain management in Jacksonville, FL, will briefly discuss some of the most common causes.

Arthritis is one of the most common ailments that affect patients. This is a chronic condition that is characterized by the loss of cartilage, the smooth surfaces that line your joints. The decrease in cartilage means that your bones are more likely to make direct contact with each other, which can cause pain and make moving your body difficult. There are three types of shoulder arthritis: osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and post-traumatic arthritis. The onset of arthritis is more likely to occur as you age, or if your family’s medical history includes conditions that affect the bones or immune system.

Chronic shoulder pain can also happen as part of complications from traumatic injuries that cause your shoulder to dislocate or fracture. Accidents from contact sports, vehicle collisions, and strong falls increase your risk of contracting chronic pain. The nature of these accidents varies widely depending on the circumstances of the accident. As such, many parts of your shoulder, bones, and their connecting tissues can be affected differently.

When planning your pain management program to counteract the effects of chronic pain, it is important to work with a physician you can trust. Contact your health care provider to discuss your treatment options.

 

doctor examining patient’s lower back

How Radiofrequency Ablation can Treat Lower Back Pain

Are you experiencing pain or discomfort in your lower back? Many factors can affect the cause of the pain, such as poor posture or lack of physical activity. Your local spine center in Jacksonville, FL, may have the remedy to your problems. Today, we will talk about radiofrequency ablation.

Your nervous system communicates pain signals to your brain, which causes the body to react to discomfort. Radiofrequency ablation is a treatment that prevents these signals from reaching your brain. This treatment method uses electrical currents from radio waves and stimulates nerve tissue. It is a minimally invasive procedure that burns away nerve fibers quickly. As a result, this treatment can provide immediate relief.

Radiofrequency ablation is highly recommended to patients who suffer from chronic pain localized in the lower back and neck areas. Patients that undergo radiofrequency ablation find relief for six to twelve months after the procedure.

Many patients that choose radiofrequency ablation experience little side effects. However, complications from the procedure may include inflammation and bleeding. Your physician can tell you about the potential risks.

When considering this treatment, it is important to work with a physician at a spine center you can trust. Request an appointment and consult with your practitioner to learn if radiofrequency ablation is the right model of care for you.